ePub An Introduction to the History of Israel and Judah by J. Alberto Soggin; John Bowden in History

Description

During its clandestine construction in Liverpool; it was known as “Number 290.” When it was finally unleashed as the CSS Alabama; the Confederate gunship triggered the last great military campaign of the Civil War; a maritime adventure unparalleled in our history; an infamous example of British political treachery; and the largest retribution settlement ever negotiated by an international tribunal: $15;500;000 in gold paid by Britain to the United States. This riveting true story of the Anglo-Confederate alliance that led to the creation of a Southern navy illuminates the dramatic and crucial global impact of the American Civil War.Like most things in the War between the States; it started over cotton: Lincoln’s naval blockade prevented the South from exporting their prize commodity to England. In response; the Confederacy came up with a unique plan to divert the North’s vessels and open the waterways–a plan that would mean covertly building a navy in Britain; a daring strategy that involved an unforgettable cast of colorful characters.James Bulloch–Northerner by circumstance; Southerner by birth; he risked his life to enter England and build a fleet under the very noses of Northern spies; Lord John Russell–the British foreign secretary who was suspected of subverting his own legal system to allow the secret ships; Charles Francis Adams–son and grandson of presidents; who exhausted every avenue to stop the Confederate-British collusion; Raphael Semmes–the fanatically loyal Southern captain who disabled or destroyed sixty Northern ships before meeting his match near Cherbourg; France; and The Alabama–a wooden gunship that took to the sea named for a Southern state to wreak havoc on the Northern cause.With The Rebel Raiders; naval historian James Tertius deKay brings to dazzling life an amazing; little known piece of history that is at once an important work of Civil War scholarship and a suspenseful tale of military strategy; international espionage; and a legal crisis whose outcome still affects the world.